i would like to sponsor a proposal to include a new character in the Unicode
standard. before formally doing so, however, i wanted to check that the
proposed
character hadn't been previously rejected or wasn't already in process.

the character in question is the phonorecord sign (best represented in this
message as "(P)"). the following description, taken from
http://www.patent-law.com/copyright.html, provides a good description of the
character:

The copyright notice for phonorecord of sound recording [Sound recordings
are
defined as "works that result from the fixation of a series of musical,
spoken, or other sounds, but not including the sounds accompanying a
motion
picture or other audiovisual work, regardless of the nature of the
material
objects, such as disks, tapes, or other phonorecords, in which they are
embodied."] has somewhat different requirements. The notice appearing on
phonorecord should contain the following three elements:

1. The symbol (P) (the letter P in a circle); and

2. The year of first Publication of sound recording; and

3. The name of the owner of copyright in the sound recording, or and
abbreviation by which the name can recognized, or a generally known
alternative designation of the owner. If the producer of the sound
recording is named on the phonorecord labels or containers, and if
no
other name appears in conjunction with the notice, the producer's
name
shall be considered a part of the notice.

Example: (P) 1994 A.B.C., Inc.

this character it is the copyright equivalent for sound recordings. an
example
can be seen on the back of any CD.

i'm very interested to hear whether this has been discussed previously
and/or
the current status of any earlier proposals.